Know of Any Good Car Toys for 19 Month Old Boy?

Hi M.,

My husband and I have a 2 yr old daughter and last yr he bought her a dvd player for the car and let me tell you, it was the best investment ever. We like to take lots of little road trip and it is a life saver. We even took a big road trip last Dec and it was great. We have her favorite stuff handy and we pop it in and that is it.

I hope that this helps out, have fun this summer and be safe.
M.

M. and Doug make a toy that is essentially a wood board with several types of locking latches attached. There's a chain, a hook, a slide...and more. My son loves it! It keeps them entertained for awhile trying to lock and unlock all the latches.

What I've done is watch closely for a few days which small toys and books my child plays with the most, then gather them up while he's asleep and pack them away several days before the trip! That way when you whip them out you know they are things he likes!

If you want to buy something new, buy some magnets. Be sure you get ones with no small magnetic parts that can come loose and be put in his mouth-- if you can find some large magnets that would be best-- and bring along a cookie sheet-- test it first to make sure the magnets stick to it. Or better yet if you have a cookie tin you can store the magnets in it and use the lid for play. I also stumbled across a set of animal flash cards once (dollar store or Target) and they were great for travel because you can hand him a card and talk about the animal-- what sound it makes, what it eats, etc.

Remember that you don't have to entertain him the entire road trip. Even though they don't sit still for 30 seconds at a time at home, there is something soothing about the movement of the car and most kids are content to stare into space for long stretches of time- especially if there is fun music playing

Hi M.,

We used to be on the road a lot because, before working from home, I traveled 40 miles one way to work each day. My son really loved the see-n-say mini toys from Walmart. You can probably pick them up in different stores besides Walmart but I specifically remember buying them there. He also liked his little laptop with sounds, shapes, etc. I found a toy phone from Target that had a recordable option and recorded my voice in it. He really liked that, as well.

Another suggestions is to check out One Step Ahead. You can get some great ideas there. Some of the toys are exclusive and some that are not. You might even get some ideas and find the toys at Toys-R-Us or even Walmart. I did purchase the attachable soft tray for his carseat so he would have a surface to play on. It's totally safe and was great to keep the majority of his play things at his fingertips (when they didn't "fall" onto the floor) and also served as a great snack area. The blow up bed (oval shape with sides) is a great travel bed for toddlers, too. We've had ours for just over 3 years and it's wonderful, even now.

Another thing I did was play a few DVDs on LONG trips - learning ones, of course. We didn't play them the whole time but it was a great passtime for him throughout the trip since he had to remain seated for an extended period of time. LOTS of stops just to run around and freshen up.

Have fun and don't stress! You will find travel pretty fun when you are relaxed and go with the flow.

All the best,
K. Woodlief
www.LovinLifeHome.com

We used to take along a magna-doodle (travel sized) and draw pictures and have the kids guess what it was... kind of like pictionary. They could also draw pictures and have US guess what it was. Take a bag of small books to look through-the kind with "lift the flaps" are always fun for them.

We never did the DVD stuff with our kids, and we did a lot of traveling.

I would suggest that you try to plan to leave early in the morning (he'll go back to sleep pretty easily in the car for at least an hour of travel), or close to nap time. If you are mid-morning traveler (like me)... leaving around 9:00 or 10:00... try to get him up a little earlier, so that he'll be ready for a snack just before you go, then will drop off for a nap right away once you get moving. Let him sleep as long as he will... then when he wakes up try a book or game, then stop for lunch. Let him play in a safe play place (like a chik-fil-a or something.. or if a mall with a play place is nearby, grab a bite from the food court and let him play while you eat). Then back in the car and read a book, play a game, etc... then put on some music and he'll probably take another good nap.
We always tried to consolidate all of our stops (bathroom, gas, food, stretch legs) into one, so that when the kids fell asleep, we didn't need to stop for anything, as that often would wake them. As long as they slept, we kept driving. Just remember to pack whatever "lovey" item he has so he can hold it in the car. It always helped ours to conk out.
(And pack extra baby blankets in an accessible place - you never know when a bout of car sickness can hit them!)
How far are you planning to drive? It will work out, and you'll figure out what works for your little man! Have fun!

Hi, we went on a long trip with my daughter when she was this age and I went to the dollar store before our trip and bought a bunch of things for her to play with in the car. I would bring out a couple every so often on the trip and it worked great. I also brought some safety lollipops and they helped too although it was sticky I had wipes. Also do you have a portable dvd player and some musical dvds. We also stopped at a chik fila and let the kids play - we were driving all night so we stopped at about 6:30 and ate and let the kids play for awhile then I cleaned them up and put pajamas on them and they went to sleep right away. Good luck and have a great time!! S.